WSCC GP Leg 2: Hou Yifan scrapes through, Ju Wenjun out
The second leg of Women’s Speed Chess Grand Prix started on Chess.com with the Round of 16. Some favorites won their matches comfortably: Kateryna Lagno 9-4 Kaiyu NingValentina Gunina 7.5-4.5 Le Thao Nguyen PhamSarasadat Khadamalsharieh 7-3 Irina KrushZhansaya Abdumalik 6.5-4.5 Deysi Cori For other higher-rated players, it was not a walk in the park, to say the least. Hou Yifan started the match against Gunay Mammadzada with losing three 5-minutes games. In one of them, she blundered an exchange and in the other lost on time. As the match progressed, the #1 female player adapted to the format and got the ball rolling; she bounced back in the 3-minutes games, got an upper hand in bullet and eventually prevailed 5.5-4.5. Another Chinese star Ju Wenjun succumbed to Olga Girya‘s resilience and determination. The World Champion was leading 5-3 before the bullet portion and had all the reasons to be optimistic. After a loss and a draw, the score was still 5,5-4,5 with just 2 minutes of the match left. Ju Wenjun resigned the next game just 25 seconds before the end of the countdown, preferring another bullet game to decide the match instead of the right away Armageddon. In the last game, Girya got the upper hand with White and delivered an upset of the round if not of the entire second leg. 19-year-old Vaishali Rameshbabu who went all the way to the match for 3rd place in the previous leg continues to take down the favorites. This time she defeated Anna Muzychuk 6-4 coming back from 2-4 and then winning the last two bullet encounters. The penultimate game turned out to be decisive: Myzychuk emerged with an extra exchange in an endgame but underestimated the quickness of her opponent’s a-pawn. The winner of the first leg Anna Ushenina started this one with confidence too, eliminating Harika Dronavalli 7-4.
Carlsen reaches second final of his $1 million tour
Magnus Carlsen crushed China’s number 1 Ding Liren in just three games to seal his place in the Chessable Masters final. The World Champion and hot favorite to win the $150,000 tournament hit top form at just the right time to qualify in an ominous fashion. Carlsen won the first encounter, drew the second, and then finished Ding off in the third to go through with a game – and a day – to spare. It was “breathtaking”, French Grandmaster Romain Édouard said on Twitter. Ding’s only win of the match was one gifted to him by Carlsen yesterday after he felt bad for winning the previous game when his opponent disconnected in a drawish position and ran out of time. “It would be special to face Anish in the final!” Carlsen said, but his dream of facing his Twitter rival Anish Giri hangs in the balance after the Dutch number 1 was defeated 2.5-1.5 by Russia’s top player Ian Nepomniachtchi. That means Anish and Ian return on Thursday for a high-stakes decider before the final starts on Friday. About the tournament The event, broadcast live on chess24, is the next stage of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour which carries a total prize pot of $1 million, a record for the online game. The Chessable Masters, which runs until July 5, is being put on in association with Chessable and the tour’s Education Partner, leading Swiss private banking group, Julius Baer. Players were split into two groups (A and B) of six for the preliminary stage before eight progressed to the knockouts. The final winner will take home the top prize of $45,000 and a ticket to the $300,000 tour Grand Final. Coverage begins with commentary in 10 languages at 16.00 CEST. You can watch it live here: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/chessable-masters-2020-group-a#live Highlights English:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dpG2c-dmqs58tSDSZvxzGNqzgquJyO0g?usp=sharing FOR MORE INFORMATION:Leon Watsonleon@chessable.com+447786 078770